The Senate Won’t Decide It

To simply steal a point my colleague John Dickerson made the other day about something else, despite the press' love for quoting Senators the actions of Senate Republicans are totally irrelevant to legislative activity.

For a bill to pass, it needs the agreement of Barack Obama and John Boehner. There's no way an Obama/Boehner agreement on immigration, the fiscal cliff, or anything else is going to be sunk by John McCain. Back in 2010, Boehner was totally irrelevant and marginal Senate Republicans were the whole story of everything. But here in 2012 it's the reverse. It's all about what Boehner will and won't do, and the views of marginal Senate Republicans are irrelevant.